Increasing interest is now being directed towards the assessment of patient outcomes, both in evaluating medical interventions and in endeavors to increase the quality of care patients receive. While it is argued that outcomes measurement has the potential to positively influence medical care, when carried out without due consideration of its limitations and weaknesses it could lead to data that are misleading. In light of health outcomes data being viewed as central to monitoring and evaluation, we believe that evaluators have the potential to bring expertise and valuable experience into this rapidly evolving field of inquiry. The following article will discuss recent developments in the field of health status measurement for outcomes evaluation and analyse some of the most important challenges in the field.
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